Since Cyril Ramaphosa was elected ANC president back in December, South Africans are feeling a little more optimistic about almost everything.

Sure, the gap between the rich and poor is wider than ever, we have a near-dire nationwide drought situation, and the amount of corruption on every level is extraordinary, but, hey, Ramaphosa is here to save us.

And, according to Moneyweb, this “sentiment has also been apparent on the JSE”:

Since December 13, the FTSE/JSE All Share Index has gained 7.41%, hitting a new all time high in the process.

Yay!

But the biggest gainers haven’t been the multinationals we have come to know and hate:

AB InBev, British American Tobacco and Richemont are all amongst the market’s worst performers for this period due to the strengthening of the rand.

Rather, it’s the “mid- and small-cap space” that has been winning:

Since December 13, the FTSE/JSE Mid Cap Index has gained 12.04%. The FTSE/JSE Small Cap Index is 9.25% higher over the same period.

In both cases, this is more than double the return that these indices recorded for the whole of 2017.

The table below shows just how much these companies, ranging from information technology to retail to construction and financial services, have all been lifted:

The common denominator? They are all geared towards a recovery in the South African economy.